Sermons from July 2015

Genesis 3:1-24 A London drinking song begins with the lyrics “Here’s to sin and here’s to virtue, a little bit of both won’t hurt you,” and the common feeling is that as long as no-one gets too badly hurt, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of grown-up naughtiness from time to time. Perhaps it’s time to say goodbye to old-fashioned categories like sin, guilt, good and bad, and forgiveness? Listen in as we look at one of the foundational texts of the Old Testament – Genesis 3 – and see what relevance it has in our morally ambiguous world.

Psalm 103 According to Richard Dawkins: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Although not all of us might express it quite like Dawkins does (!), many people question whether such a God should be worthy of our worship and love. Listen in as we consider this question together.

Isaiah 65 Hundreds of millions of people profess to worship God – but there is a huge spectrum of beliefs about what he is like and how to worship him. They can’t all be right. What is true worship? And why does it matter that we get it right?

John 14:1-3 “I don’t believe in an afterlife, so I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.” Isaac Asimov. Listen in as we hear Jesus explain why Heaven is going to be unmissably good, and how we can ensure we don’t miss out on it.

Isaiah 65 What should I wear today? What should I eat for dinner? Should I look for a new job? Where should we move to? Life is full of choices. But the biggest, most momentous choice we each face is whether to be rebels against God or servants of God. It’s a choice with eternal consequences. God wants us to choose life.

1John 4:10-12We’re facing a time of change at the Barge – planting a church in Greenwich – whether those sending or being sent things will be different. How can we love one another well through this time?

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2 Children’s books and TV programs categorize people into goodies and baddies, but as we grow up we discover that the world is more complicated than that. Rather than seeing everything as “black and white” we discover instead “50 shades of grey”. This is why, for many people, they can’t accept the Bible with its simplistic categories of good and evil; heaven and hell; saved and lost. Listen in as we consider this issue together.

Isaiah 63-64 Do you want your life to count? Do you want people to say on the last day that you made a difference in their lives? Then you must become a person of prayer. The intercessors are God’s key players. Not everyone can preach, but anyone can pray. Isaiah shows us how.

2 Corinthians 5:9-15 The range of religious and spiritual options in London is bewildering, how are we to navigate through it all? How are we to know where to find truth and what’s a dead-end? What about the Barge – how can we make sure that we are on track? Listen in as we consider the Bible’s teaching on what is authentic ministry.